Now you can get the Hook delivered... through RelayFoods.com

The Hook has never claimed to offer to-your-door service. However, a local grocery service called RelayFoods.com has just begun delivering copies of the free weekly newspaper along with the 10,000 foods and other products it had already been carrying.

"We're really excited to offer the Hook," says Cecilia Laseter, the company's marketing manager. "Our customers are well-informed, community-minded folks who like to stay up to date on the latest Charlottesville happenings– and we're happy to help them do it."

Launched about two years ago with a slightly different name, RelayFoods.com amalgamates the grocery experience by letting consumers go online to shop from such stores as Whole Foods Market, Reid's, and Foods of All Nations. There's no cost for the service, even though it also includes dozens of smaller niche and organic-food purveyors– some from as far away as the Shenandoah Valley.

RelayFoods.com lets consumers retrieve purchases from all these varied vendors– which include Gearhart's chocolates, Highland County-based Virginia trout, and chickens from Polyface Farm– in one convenient location. Or– for a fee ranging from $4.25 to $8– get the bundle delivered to home or office.

The Hook, of course, is free. And since late March it can be ordered, along with Charlottesville trash stickers ($2.20) and copies of Flavor magazine ($5.95), in the "Relay's Own" part of the website.

"We're also always happy to partner with great, community-focused local businesses like the Hook," says Laseter. "It's a win-win-win scenario."